GALLERY: Gazprom Neft boosts Prirazlomnaya output in 2016


Gazprom Neft, an oil producing subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, has met its annual production targets at the Prirazlomnaya offshore platform with a total 2,154,000 tonnes of Arctic oil being produced at the offshore field in 2016.

According to the company, the produced amount of oil is over two and a half times more than the volumes produced in 2015, which saw 800,000 tonnes of oil dispatched to customers in North West Europe.

Gazprom Neft added that the Prirazlomnaya is the first and, thus far, the only project on the Russian Arctic Shelf at which commercial hydrocarbon production is currently ongoing.

Oil produced at the Prirazlomnoye field is characterized by its high density at approximately 906 kilograms per cubic meter, high sulfur content, low carbon residue, and high volume of fractions.

Production at the Prirazlomnoye field began in December 2013, with the first consignment of the new Arctic oil dispatched in April 2014 after a loading order was given by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

Oil transportation from the field is being handled by two shuttle tankers, the Mikhail Ulyanov and the Kirill Lavrov. All loading is done in compliance with 30 separate safety requirements along with the offloading line which pumps oil to the tankers being equipped with an emergency shut-down system, allowing offloading to be terminated instantaneously.

The Prirazlomnoye field, located in the Pechora Sea some 60 kilometers from shore, was initially discovered in 1989 and the license to develop this field is held by Gazpromneft-Shelf LLC, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft.

Recoverable reserves of the field are in the region of 70 million tonnes. The Prirazlomnaya ice-resistant offshore rig was designed specifically for the development of this field and is designed for use in the most extreme environmental and climatic conditions and can withstand maximum ice loads.

All wells at the Prirazlomnoye field are located within the platform, the base of which acts as a buffer between the well and the open sea.